Sunderland based content marketers, THE OFFICE ROCKS have today unveiled an exciting collaboration with CODE, a national digital skills academy based in Sunderland, which will see the two innovative companies work together to support in the upskilling of the next generation of digital rock stars
As a leading provider in the North East, Code works with companies of all sizes throughout England to upskill their staff, supporting firms to find the best way to use their Apprenticeship Levy. Code provides a range of accredited training solutions around digital skills, such as digital support technicians, cyber security technologists, software developers and network engineers.
After securing a three-year contract as a part of the ESF North East Workforce Skills Programme, Code have recruited the team at The Office Rocks to creatively drive their digital marketing campaign to ensure maximum impact and engagement.
With the founder and Managing Director, Laura Middleton at the helm, The Office Rocks creates and delivers successful and highly targeted marketing campaigns to ensure a brand’s maximum exposure, traffic and sales. With clients on the books including Tesco, Mamas & Papas, Nike, Boohoo, Paperchase and Sainsburys to name but a few, The Office Rocks has successfully created and grown a host of online communities across their portfolio, with a weekly reach of 8m+ and driving over £33m to clients in the process.
Laura Middleton, Managing Director, The Office Rocks said:”Over the years we have developed a number of online communities across a range of genres, these platforms have seen exceptional growth, the stats speak volumes and we are delighted to now be working with the highly skilled and passionate team over at Code to further grow their digital marketing capabilities.”
The parent company behind the sale of e-commerce business WHAT ABOUT THIS (WAT), The Office Rocks has created and grown substantially over the last six years by leveraging their expertise in community building and digital marketing, with shining star Bump, Baby & You taking centre stage as one of the largest digital communities in the mother and baby arena in the UK, with the community topping a seven million reach. As an established and trusted provider, Code have supported an array of employers across the region with upskilling their workforce and key employers like Northumbrian Water, go-centric, Ilke Homes, Rebuyer and Seriös Group have seen the direct benefits. With The Office Rocks on board the creative team will look to also target the younger generation of employees to inspire the next generation of ‘digital rock stars’.
Laura added: “Through our expertise in driving community engagement, we will be utilising a host of methods to ensure we are reaching both employers and also employees via creative content creation, predominantly through TikTok, which we’ve seen provide phenomenal impact and outcomes for our clients – we also want to inspire young employees to make the approach to their employers and ask to be upskilled.`
Code is the apprenticeships division of Rebuyer, which works with companies across the UK to recycle their old IT equipment to protect the environment. The company is also behind Donate Digital, a long-term project to bridge the digital divide in the North East that came to fruition during lockdown for children who didn’t have devices to access the internet.
Simon Howatson, founder of Code said:”We are delighted to join forces with The Office Rocks to help drive our digital campaign, Laura is a passionate advocate for digital skills and their creative approach to community development and engagement is a great asset for Code to have on board as we work in collaboration with consortium partners to upskill the region, through the North East Workforce Skills programme.
Companies are increasingly recognising the importance of digital skills in their workforce and as specialists in digital training, we are looking forward to unlocking the opportunity to drive business efficiency and effectiveness across organisations through digital training, alongside ensuring the physical and mental wellbeing of their people.”
The North East Workforce Skills Programme is a European Social Fund (ESF) project, delivered by a consortium of Further and Higher Education providers in the North East, led by the University of Sunderland. The programme supports employees across the Tyne and Wear and Northumberland area through highly tailored training and development solutions for businesses, from learning basic skills right up to degree level.